Anniversary - Society for Menstrual Research · 1997: 20 th anniversary of SMCR - Looking Forward,...

40th Anniversary

1977 - 2017

Happy Birthdayto SMCR!

Celebrating SMCR's 40th Anniversary of Research and Advocacy to Improve Menstrual Health and Experience

Highlights from Then to Now

Society for Menstrual Cycle Research 40th Anniversary

In it at the beginning were: Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (Psychology)Alice Dan (Psychology)Inge Dyrenfurth (Ob/Gyn)Mary Anna Friederich (Ob/Gyn)Suzanne Gage (Self Help)Sharon Golub (Psychology)Effie Graham (Nursing/Psychology)Margarita Kay (Anthropology)Randi Damon Koeske (Social Psychology)Pauline Komnenich (Nursing)Virginian Oleson (Sociology)Esther Rome (Women’s Health)Karen Maitland Schilling (Psychology)Michael Smolensky (Physiology)Ann Voda (Physiology/Nursing)Nancy Fugate Woods (Epidemiology/Nursing)

What follows, drawn from 22 conference programs and countless newsletters, is a very abbreviated account of SMCR work, and play, over the years (with apologies for not being able to mention by name all who have contributed to our legacy).

In 2017, the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research (SMCR) celebrates its 40th anniversary! SMCR was founded in 1977 by a multidisciplinary group of women who were pioneers in understanding the centrality of menstrual cycle research to women’s health.


1977, 1978, 1979: 3 conferences in 3 years… Our founders began the work of building a new knowledge base related to menstrual experience; proceedings published in the first 3 of 7 foundational books:

The Menstrual Cycle, Volume I: A Synthesis of Interdisciplinary Research; edited by Alice J. Dan, Effie A. Graham & Carol P. Beecher. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1980

The Menstrual Cycle, Volume II: Research and Implications for Women’s Health; edited by Pauline Komnenich, S.N. Elder, M. McSweeney & J.A. Novak. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1980

Changing Perspectives on Menopause; edited by Ann M. Voda, Myra Dinnerstein & Sheryl R. O’Donnell. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982

See http://www.menstruationresearch.org/conferences/#conference_publications for additional conference related publications over the years.

1981: Menarche Keynotes: Rose Frisch, Karen Paige; Anne Peterson, Michelle Warren Proceedings result in the publication of a 4th foundational book:

Menarche: The Transition from Girl to Woman; edited by Sharon Golub. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, D.C. Health & Co., 1983

Koeske, McHugh and Frieze publish Guidelines for Nonsexist Research inPsychology, Report of the Task Force of Division 35, American PsychologicalAssociation forging early ties to today’s Society for Women in Psychology

Mary Brown Parlee’s work on PMS (dating back to her 1973 Psychological Bulletinpublication) is reviewed in Ms Magazine

Greif and Ulman publish an important paper, The Psychological Impact ofMenarche on Early Adolescent Development (Child Development, (53), 1412-1430), which articulates the need for adopting a biopsychosocial approach tothe study of menstrual experience – a departure from previous researchperspectives

1982: The SMCR Newsletter, RE-CYCLING was launched with Randi Koeske as the1st editor. What’s in a Name? Koeske wrote:

One relevant meaning of recycling, for example is reclaiming: reprocessingwaste material to produce something of new value… Another relevant meaningof recycling is starting over: passing through a series of changes again orreturning to an earlier state. This meaning echoes another commitment of ourSociety – to begin anew the search for information and explanation aboutwomen’s bodies and women’s lives, to reexamine the traditional “truths” and thetraditional pathways to knowledge which have generated those “truths”.


Starting over signifies rebirth: the sense that something new can be created from a past “life”. It also connotes coming full circle: seeing endings as beginnings and beginnings as endings, rather than measuring change in terms of linear progression or regression.

A final relevant meaning of recycling is highlighted by the use of hyphenation: recycling is re-cycling and cycles have a broad significance for our Society. Cycles provide important themes in a woman’s life. They link her to her body, to the lives of future generations, and, often, to the health care system. They provide metaphors for the many developmental phases of her existence. They serve as a “window” to the biological, psychological, experiential, societal, and cultural factors that interact to influence her reproduction, sexuality, health, life opportunities and emotionality. They are often the focus of powerful professional and societal myths about her “true nature”, making her a symbol and social object as well as a human being.

RE-CYCLING can be a symbolic reminder of our Society’s commitment to reclaiming, starting over, and refocusing attention on the cycles of a woman’s life in all their complexity.

1983: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Menstrual Cycle: An Interdisciplinary Research Conference

This conference underscores the Society’s commitment to acknowledging theimportance of social and cultural aspects of menstrual experience and its effortto share this new research to women’s health care practitioners

Proceedings result in the publication of a 5th foundational book:Culture, Society and Menstruation: edited by Virginia L. Oleson and Nancy Fugate Woods. New York: Hemisphere, Harper & Row, 1986

1985: Clinical Applications and Sociocultural Implications Keynote: Dr. Jane Endicott “Premenstrual “Changes: An Overview” Tampon safety brought to our attention by Esther Rome and Nancy Reame –

advancing our ties to Boston Women’s Health Collective The Beeper Study: LeFerve, Church, Hedricks and McClintock: electronic pagers

monitor mood, cognitive state, activities, location across the cycle Proceedings resulted in the publication of a 6th foundational book:

o Menstrual Health in Women’s Lives; edited by Alice J. Dan and Linda L.Lewis. Champaign, IL. University of Illinois Press.


Phyllis Kernoff Mansfield describes her proposed work to improve research onmenstrual patterns of midlife women by employing improved sampling, the useof standardized terminology and more accurate reporting of menstrual events

Fall 1985: Task Force headed by Drs. Robert Spitzer, Susan Blumenthal and JaneEndicott propose considering adding PMS as mental disorder in the DSM-III

Michelle Harrison publishes a new edition of “Self-Help for PremenstrualSyndrome”

Ann Voda publishes “Menopause, Me and You” – emphasizing menopause asnormal event, and takes over the reins of the Tremin Trust

Janine O’Leary Cobb publishes “A Friend Indeed” – intended to offer anexchange of information about menopause to help women makeknowledgeable decisions

Winter 1986: Society members consider guidelines for menstrual cycle researchrelated to how best to determine cycle phase

1987: Sexuality and the Menstrual Cycle: Clinical and Sociocultural Implications Keynotes:

o Dr. Winnifred Cutler: “The Role of the Menstrual Cycle in Sexual Behavior inWomen”

o Roger Haskett: “Development of Diagnostic criteria for PremenstrualSyndrome – Help or Hinderance?”

o Barbara Czwewinski (the First Tambrands Lecture) presents on menstrualhygiene in space

Another eye-opening presentation: Lorraine Rothman: “Redefinition of theClitoris” from New View of Women’s Bodies, The Federation of Feminist Women’sHealth Networks; detailed drawings and photographs to demystify women’sbodies and empower vaginal self-examination and other self-help techniques

Proceedings resulted in the publication of a 7th foundational book:Menstruation, Health and Illness: edited by Diana L. Taylor and Nancy Fugate Woods. Bristol, Penn.: Hemisphere, 1991

Conference accommodations: student dorms - $15-$30/per night; hotelaccommodations ($80-$95/per night)!

1989: Menopause: Clinical and Sociocultural Implications of the Closure of Menstrual Life

Keynote: Elizabeth Barrett-Conner on the beneficial and detrimental effects ofestrogen replacement therapy

Mary Jones takes over as newsletter editor


Jerilynn Prior suggests writing letters to journal editors likely to be printing materialrelated to women and the menstrual cycle to change to a double blind peerreview system

Spring 1989:o Chrisler and colleagues present findings from their content analysis of

descriptions of PMS in magazine articles between 1980 and 1987indicating a bias in favor of reporting negative menstrual cycle changes

o Margie Ripper’s work on the need for multimethod approaches tomenstrual cycle research is needed to reveal the importance of the socialand cultural context of menstruation is mentioned in a newsletter editorial

Winter 1989:o Esther Rome urges additional standardization of tampon absorbencieso Newsletter urges caution in evaluating research on effects of cycle on

cognition Spring 1990: Chrisler and colleagues present findings from their content analysis

of descriptions of PMS in magazine articles between 1980 and 1987 indicating abias in favor of reporting negative menstrual cycle changes

Summer 1990: a note in the newsletter announces that the FDA is looking intopossible beneficial effects of Premarin on cardiac risk factors…not withoutcontroversy

1991: Mind-body Rhythmicity: A Menstrual Cycle Perspective Keynote speaker (Tambrands Lecture) – Emily Martin, drawing from her book, The

Woman in the Body, presented an analysis of the language used in scientificmedical texts to describe women’s reproductive functions and how presumablyfactual descriptions of biological functions serve as metaphors that shape ourview of ourselves and others.

Summer 1991:o SMCR considers a resolution urging pharmaceutical companies and the

FDA to make RU486 available for further research and use as medicallyindicated

o Cynthia Hedricks takes over as Newsletter editor with assistance fromBarbara Sommer

Fall 1991: Alice Dan named as director the Center for Research on Women andGender at the University of Illinois

Winter 1992: SMCR mourns the death of Linda McKeever (a student prize in herhonor is established in 1993)

1992: Sharon Golub publishes “Period”


1993: Building a Science of Menstruation Based on Women’s Experiences Keynote Address (4th Tambrands Lecture) – Vivian Pinn, “The NIH Agenda for

Women’s Health Research,” featuring the effort to represent women from allsegments of society in NHI research

Keynote panel (sponsored by Johnson and Johnson): “Issues and ControversiesSurrounding Menopause”; presentations by Francine Grodstein, Cynthia APearson, Ann Voda, Irv Zola

Invited address – Nancy Reame, “Recent Research Advances in UnderstandingRegulation of the Menstrual Cycle”

Winter 1994: Margie Profit suggests menstruation is an adaption to cleanse thereproductive tract

June 1995: SMCR mourns the death of Esther Rome (a student prize is establishedin her honor)

1995: Broadening Our Vision: Class & Cultural Issues in Women’s Health (delivered in both French and English)

Keynotes:o Joan Anderson: “Women, Class, Race and Health: Where Do We Go

from Here?” health (before the term “intersectionality” wasacknowledged or understood as it is today); advocated for inclusiveresearch that explores concepts from the people who are being studies

o Jane Fulton (Tambrands lecture): “Women’s Health is the Measure of aNation’s Wellbeing: 52% Speak Out!”

Sponsored Panel Discussion (by Johnson and Johnson): “Social Issues AffectingWomen’s Health”

Banquet Speaker: Jacqueline Pelltier, “Women in their 50’s Have Power – andThey Are Hot!”

Chrisler and colleagues publish a paper on the construct of Menstrual Joy (1994) Voda becomes president of the North American Menopause Society June, 1996: SMCR publicizes the work of the World Research Network on the

Sexuality of Women and Girls, brought to our attention by Leonore Teifer

1997: 20th anniversary of SMCR - Looking Forward, Looking Back: The Place of Women’s Everyday Lives in Health Research

Keynote (Tambrands Lecture) – Susan Love, “The Medicalization of Menopause” Lunchtime Speaker: Alice Rossi, “A Life Course Perspective on the Menopausal

Transition” Johnson & Johnson sponsored poster session and reception


The Golden (Bronze) Tampon is passed from old to new SMCR President as thesymbol of SMCR leadership

Spring 1997:o Mansfield and Voda win $2 million research grant to study the

menopausal transition using the Tremin Trust participantso The 25th Anniversary Edition of The Doctor’s Case Against the Pill by

Barbara Seaman is published Summer 1998:

o Kathleen McPherson starts the SMCR listserve; Connie Bareford creates theSMCR webpage;

o Janine O’Learly Cobb becomes the interim newsletter editor with helpfrom Peggy Stubbs (who carries on as newsletter editor until 2005)

1999: Cycling towards the Millennium: Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Research Keynote (sponsored by Proctor & Gamble): Ann Voda, “SMCR Wisdom Keepers:

A Review,” featured the many contributions of SMCR researchers Banquet Speaker (Pfizer Lecture): Nancy Mairs, “Sex and the Gimpy Girl” Fall 1999:

o Voda Lifetime Achievement award institutedo The FDA approves a new conjugated estrogen (in addition to Premarin)

for use in the US. Leora Tannenbaum describes the tussle between Wyeth-Ayrest and the FDA approval process in the National Women’s HealthNetwork’s On The Issues, Winter 1998

Winter 1999: Concern about dioxin used in tampon manufacturing is raised 1999: Coutinho and Segal publish “Is Menstruation Obsolete?” and Karen

Houppert publishes “The Curse: Confronting the Last Unmenstionable Taboo –Menstruation”

Fall 2000: The listserv moves to Penn State; Richard Mansfield is the newmoderator

2001: A Menstrual Cycle, A Life Cycle Keynote Speakers:

o Elizabeth Kissling, “Going with the flow: Menstruation and PopularCulture;”

o Lynnette Sievert, “Symptoms Associated with Reproductive Aging inPuebla, Mexico

o Valerie Whiffen, “Attachment Theory as a Framework for UnderstandingPost-Partum Mood Disorders”


o Nawal Nour, “Clinical Management of Circumcised Women” Invited Panel: Writing for the General Public about Women’s Reproductive

Health: Kathleen MacPherson, Jessica Gillooly, Sharon Golub, Jerilynn Prior, AnnVoda

Dinner Speaker: Paula Caplan, “A Dramatic Monologue - Call Me crazy:Premenstrual Problems – A First Person Story”

2003: Going with the Flow: Mapping the Course of Menstrual Experience Keynotes and Invited Panels:

o Alice Dan, “What have we Learned: A Historical View of the Society forMenstrual Cycle Research”

o Karen Houppert, “Continued Reflections on the Curse”o Maria Clara Whitaker, “Political and Cultural Issues Regarding Menstrual

Suppression in Brazil” Wisdom Keepers, Wisdom Makers:

o Diana Taylor, “From ‘It’s All in Your Head’ to ‘Taking Back the Month:’Mapping the Past 20 Years of Women-Centered Research aboutPremenstrual Syndrome”

o Nancy Williams, “Exercise and the Menstrual Cycle: Psychological,Sociological and Physiological Factors”

o David Linton, “Out of the Media Closet: Menstrual images in TV andMovies”

Menstrual Cycle Research in Pittsburgho Roberta Ness, “Oral Contraception, Menstrual Suppression and Ovarian

Cancer”o Karen Matthews, “Hot Stuff About Menopause”o Lorah Dorn, “Early Puberty in Girls: The Case of Premature Adrenarche”

The Politics of the Menstrual Cycleo Nancy Worcester, “HRT: Getting to the Heart of the Politics of Women’s

Health”o Paula Caplan, “Bloodletting Makes a Comeback: How Drug Companies

and the Mental Health Establishment Purvey False Cures” Gateway Clipper Cruise Dinner and Jazz Video Project featuring past SMCR Presidents; thanks, JoEllen Wilbur Position paper on menstrual suppression in process (headed by Ingrid Johnston-

Robedo) Position paper on the Women’s Health Initiative and Randomized Controlled Trial

Data on “HRT” approved; calling for more research on the menopausal transition(draft written by Jerilynn Prior and Nancy Reame)


Summer 2002:o Paula Caplan writes: “You, Too, Can Hold a Congressional Hearing:

SMCR goes to Washington about ‘Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder’ andSarafem”

o Chris Hitchcock takes over the listerv 2002: Diana Taylor and Stacy Colino publish Taking Back the Month: A

Personalized Solution to Managing PMS and Enhancing Your Health 2002: Jerilynn Prior announces the establishment of The Center for Menstrual

Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR) Winter 2002: Nancy Worcester is the first SMCR activist

2005: Menstruation: The Fifth Vital Sign Keynote: Nancy Fugate Woods, “Women’s Health Research: What’s New?” Invited Panels:

o “The Menstrual Cycle as a Vital Sign”: Larry Nelson, Paula Hillard, JustinaTrott, Jan Werbinkski

o “Women & Menstruation: Developing Awareness in Women CareProviders”: Leslie Botha, Linda Pettit, Mary Ellen Arthur, Karen Betstad

Film: Period, The End of Menstruation by Giovanna Chesler; features some of the2003 conference

Banquet: Vagina Monologues Winter/Spring 2005:

o SMCR remembers Katharina Dalton who died in 2004;o Jerilynn Prior and colleagues author “Transitions Though the

Perimenopausal Years”;o OBOS plans a book on menopauseo Paula Derry becomes the newsletter editor

Summer 2006:o Jerilynn Prior publishes “Estrogen’s Storm Season”o Daryl Costos reviews Liz Kissling’s “Capitalizing on the Curse: The Business

of Menstruation”

2007: SMCR’s 30th Anniversary - Ovulation: The Bellweather of Women’s Well-bring Invited Addresses:

o Dr. Susan Baar, “Thinking about Food, Eating and Body Weight:Relationships with Ovulation and Women’s Bone Health”

o Jocelyn Fitzgerald, “A Timeline of Tremin: The Largest Ongoing Project onWomen’s Health and Menstruation in the World”


Plenary Sessions:o Workshop: “Teaching the Cycle”: David Linton, Chris Bobel and Liz Kisslingo “Ovulation, Cycles and Daily Experiences: Results from a Prospective 1-

year Study of 60 Healthy Women”: Jerilynn Prior, Christine Hitchcock,Annie Harvey

o “Menstrual Cycle Charting – A Path to Body Literacy”: Megan Lalonde,Geraldine Matus, Lisa Leger, Laura Wershler

Salmon BBQ at the UBC Museum of Anthropology Joan Chrisler is honored with the Ann Voda Lifetime Achievement Award Mary Anna Freiderich, who served as SMCR secretary/treasurer for 26 years

resigns; The Mary Anna Friederich for Service to the Society for Menstrual CycleResearch Award was created in her honor. Peggy Stubbs was named as the firstrecipient for her work as newsletter editor, attention to bylaws updates andefforts with SMCR colleagues to help SMCR conference presentations achievepublication.

Peggy Moloney becomes SMCR’s Treasurer Spring/Summer 2008: Jerilynn Prior writes about Barbara Seaman who died in

February Winter 2008:

o SMCR’s position paper on hormone therapy and long-term diseaseprevention is has been updated

o Peggy Stubbs and Susannah Barsom were invite to represent SMCR at aconference on The Menstrual Cycle and Adolescent Health. Peggypresented a paper on “Cultural Perceptions and Practices aroundMenarche and Adolescent Menstruation in the United States”. Susannah,referencing the Tremin Trust data, presented “The Menstrual Cycle andAdolescent Health”. Both presentations included references to relatedwork by SMCR researchers. Proceedings of this conference werepublished by the New York Academy of Sciences.

2009: Menstrual Moments: Media Messages about Menstruation Keynote: David Linton, “The Rise of the Happy Period: From Shame to Humor in

Mediated Menses” Rachel Kauder Nalebuff, “The Making of My Little Red Book” 2 sessions on menstruation in film Fall/Winter 2009:

o Liz Kissling announces plans for a blog (re:Cycling) about current issuesrelated to menstruation, and implementing secure online payment ofdues and tracking membership data


o Maureen McHugh writes In Memorium for Randi Koeske who died January31, 2009

o Diana Taylor is honored with the Ann Voda Lifetime Achievement Award Spring, 2010:

o Joan Moon announces the production of an educational CD: AWoman’s World: Discovering the Dynamic Menstrual Cycle

o Chris Bobel’s New Blood is publishedo David Linton becomes the newsletter editor

2011: Embodied Consciousness, Informed Choices: Critical Perspectives on the Menstrual Cycle

Keynotes:o Sharra Vostral, “Organisms and Objects: The Technological Health Crisis of

Toxic Shock Syndrome & Rely Tampons”o Dacia Charlesworth, “Reifying the Stigmatization of ‘Girl Parts”: Tampax’s

Use of God/Devil in the Zach16 Campaign” Exhibition: Alexandra Jacoby, “Vagina Verite – An Unabashed Exploration of the

Plain, Ordinary, Mysterious Matter of Vaginas” Plenary Panels:

o Menstruation and Stigma: Larry Nelson, “Stigma and Emotional Health”;Carol Markstrom, “Significance of Menstruation in Native AmericanCultures: The Apache Sunrise Dance”; Evelina Sterling, “Public HealthEducation and the Menstrual Cycle”; Joan Chrisler, “Stigma byAssociation? The Career Progress of Menstrual Cycle Researchers”

o Cycling and Sustainabiity: Nancy Gift, “No Sharks in the Woods:Menstruation Myths and Camping”; Megan White Mukuria, “Cycle of Life:Protecting the Planet and Alleviating Poverty through SustainableMenstrual Management”; Pryia Sharma and colleagues, “Cloth Pads: AResponsible Sustainable, Natural Choice Whose Time has Come…AroundAgain?”; David Linton, “Curing the Curse in Africa: Menstrual Disabilityand The Corporate Cure”

The Ann Voda Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Jerilynn Prior. Spring 2011: A “Menstrual Cycle Think Tank” organized by Dr. Larry Nelson was

convened in Bethesda, MD in April. The goal of the meeting was to establish aconsortium to formulate a strategic plan to increase awareness, education andresearch on the menstrual cycle. Peggy Stubbs, Paula Derry, Joan Moon andAlice Dan attended.

Fall 2011: Reminder: SMCR archives are at the Schlesinger Library in Boston, pastPresidents should forward all records to the Library.


Spring 2012:o CeMCOR celebrates its 10 year anniversaryo SMCR position paper on Midlife Reproductive Transition is finalizedo The Women’s Environmental Networks has produced a fact sheet (Seeing

Red) on menstrualo Management products and the environmento Alexandra Jacoby’s “vagina verité” is available in book formo Alice Dan writes a tribute to Adrienne Rich who died recently and credits

her work as inspiration to the emergence of groups like our own. Fall 2012:

o The Making Menstruation Matter Award is established. This awardrecognizes a journalist, activist, artist, public figure, or organization that hasmeaningfully contributed to the public understanding of menstrual cyclerelated issues. The intention of the award is to honor and encouragethoughtful dialogue about the menstrual cycle beyond the academy.

o SMCR becomes a sponsor of Selling Sickness: People Before Profits, aconference to examine the scope of disease mongering and developstrategies to resist. SMCR members (Johnston-Robledo, Stubbs, Chrisler,Derry, Grigg-Spall, Kissling, Bobel) plan presentations related to themedicalization of menstruation

o ZanaAfrica launched an iPad art video with 100 girls in Kibera, Nairobi asadvisors. The video addresses how pads and health education keep girlsin school and help them achieve their dreams

o SMCR social media enhance our visibility:Website www.menstruationresearch.orgBlog https://www.facebook.com/pages/reCycling/364690759431Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MenstruationResearchTwitter https://twitter.com/re_Cycling_SMCRSMCR has its own Journal!! Women’s Reproductive Health – Thanks, JoanChrisler!

2013: Making Menstruation Matter 1st Making Menstruation Matter Award presented to Gloria Steinem (co-

sponsored by Diva Cup) Keynote: Jane Ussher, “The Madness of Women: Myth and Experience” Phyllis Kernoff Mansfield received the Ann Voda Lifetime Achievement award Plenary panels:


o “Promoting the Menstrual Cycle as a Key Component of Women’s Health:A Public Health Perspective” - Evelina Sterling, Heather Guidone, DianaKarczmarczyk

o “Using Social Media to Promote a Women’s Health Agenda” - ElizabethKissing, Josefin Persdotter, Leonore Tiefer, Laura Wershler

Red Moon Howl: Poetry Slam, Open Mic Spring 2013: Jane Ussher, noted as editor of the Routledge’s Women in

Psychology series author of a number of books, including: The Psychology of theFemale Body; Women’s Madness: Misogyny or Mental Illness?; Fantasies ofFemininity: Reframing the Boundaries of Sex; Managing the Monstrous Feminine:Regulating the Reproductive Body; and The Madness of Women: Myths andExperience

Winter 2014:o The newsletter is renamed The Periodicalo SMCR collaborates with WASH-United to publicize/celebrate Menstrual

Hygiene day – every May 28th

Spring 2014:o Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney has been working for 20 years to enact

into law a bill to promote tampon safety. Her bill is named The RobinDanielson Bill, to honor a woman who died of Toxic Shock Syndrome.

o In March, Josefin Persdotter with Arvda Byström organized an art show inGotheburg, Sweden featuring 11 menstrual artists from all over the world

2015: Menstrual Health and Reproductive Justice: Human Rights Across the Lifespan – Because Menstrual Health is a Human Right (in partnership with the Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights at Suffolk University)

Featured speakers:o Loretta Ross, “Respect for Menstruation is a Human Right”o Tomi-Ann Roberts, “Mainstreaming the Flow: (Still) Selling My Soul to Start

the Conversation” Plenary panels:

o “Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) across the Globe” - LeetaWeinstock (Grand Challenges Canada), Sinu Joseph (Myrthi Speaks),Murat Sahin (WASH in Schools, UNICEF), Archana Patkar (Water Supplyand Sanitation Coordinating Council), Beverly Mademba (WASH United)

o “Beyond “Menstruation Bathroom”: Stimulating Social Charge throughVisualizations of Gendered Blood” - Diana Álvarez, Gabriella Boros, IngridGoldbloom Bloch, Lucy Madeline, Kyle


Memorial Discussion: In Memory of Kathleen I, MacPherson; moderator, HeatherDillaway

Our Bodies Ourselves receives the Making Menstruation Matter Award Fall 2015:

o The SMCR blog format now includes monthly themed based content, forexample: September – menarche; October – Political and Social Action;future features will include board member profiles and member profiles

o SMCR supports the De-Tax campaign to eliminate sales taxes onmenstrual products

o McHugh and Chrisler are editors of “The Wrong Prescription for Women:How Medicine and Media Create a “Need” for Treatments, Drugs andSurgery”

Spring 2016:o Many articles about menstruation in mainstream media: Newsweek, the

Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, Jezebel… how to keep themomentum going?

o Website redesign undertaken; thanks, Chris Bobel and Lauren Towelso 2 issues of Women’s Reproductive Health published in 2014; 2 in 2015; 3

more planned for 2016; 3 in 2017, and 4 in 2018o SMCR blog renamed Menstruation Matters

Fall 2016:o Heather Guidone calls our attention to a new documentary on

endometriosis, “Endo What?”o Brianne Fahs has a new book: Out for Blood: Essays on Menstruation and

Resistance

2017: Menstrual Health: Research, Representation and Re-Education Making Menstruation Matter Award presented to Congresswoman Carolyn

Maloney for her advocacy of menstrual health legislation, and her significantrole in the broader realm of women’s reproductive health; author of the RobinDanielson Act to require the regulation of the content of menstrual products

Anne Voda Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Nancy Reame, PhD. RN,FAAN; Her current research is (and has been) focused on theneuroendocrinology of the menstrual cycle, PMS, and menopause with the aimof clarifying the factors associated with women's reproductive health; Key noteaddress sponsored by CrampsAWAY

Four plenary sessions featuring current work;o Period Politics, Policy and Activism


o Cycling Across Borders: Translational Conversations; Sponsored byLunapads

o The Menstrual Experiences of Underserved Populations;o Menstrual Education – Fact and/or Fiction?

Conference refreshments provided by sponsor Diva International, Inc. Spring 2017

o Women’s Reproductive Health, Vol. 3, #3, a special issue on cancer andwomen’s reproductive health; guest editors are Lisa Rubin and JaneUssher

Thanks to those who have brought us to this moment and here’s to continued efforts to improve menstrual health and experience in the years ahead.

Anniversary - Society for Menstrual Research · 1997: 20 th anniversary of SMCR - Looking Forward,...

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